The weekend after our trip to
Philadelphia, we hopped in the car and drove to Minneapolis for the Renaissance Festival. Rob's sister Katie, cousin Melissa, and our friend Bill met us there to join in the fun. Rob was excited to have a (logical) reason to wear his costume, and Haley has also caught the excitement of Faire time. (I'm still working on it, and so far have resisted everyone's efforts to get me to dress in costume. I feel supportive enough just being there..) We munched on turkey drumsticks, watched various period dancers, and Haley even won the children's costume contest, thanks to Aunt Katie's sewing prowess. 
While everyone else was up to a second day of the Faire, I opted to take the kids to the zoo instead. We navigated the Twin Cities' highways on a very gray and misty morning and found our way to the Como Park Zoo in St. Paul. We stayed inside most of the time, like the majority of the animals, but it was fun anyway. Haley kept asking me to read the informational plaques and would then repeat stuff back to me: "Did you know that monkeys eat bugs?!" "A jaguar can run faster than a train!" Her desire to ride on rides even overcame her fear and she rode by herself for the first time ever. "Hi mom!" 
